The night was long. Too long.
Kelser didn't sleep. Nobody in the healer tent sleep. The air inside smell of sweat, blood, and that sweet, rotting scent of the poison. It make your nose burn.
There was twelve people sick now. Not just Old Man Hem. A mother, two kids, three workers from the construction site. All of them drank from the same tap. All of them turning grey.
Elara was moving fast between the beds, her face pale like paper. She look like she gonna fall any second, but she keep going. Her hands glow blue, pushing Yin energy into the patients, fighting the poison back inch by inch.
"More water!" she shout to a helper. "Clean water from the deep well! Boil it first!"
"We running out of cups!" the helper yell back, looking panic.
"Use bowls then! Just hurry!"
Kelser stand in the corner, watching. He feel useless. He want to freeze the poison, but he can't. If he freeze the patients blood, they die. So he just stand there, clenching his fists so hard his knuckles turn white.
Jian come in, looking messy. His clothes dirty, hair full of leaves.
"Bad news," Jian pant, wiping mud off his face. "We check the reservoir. The seal on the pipe... it was cut. Clean cut. Someone use a spirit blade. And they put the poison right in the main flow."
"Did you find who?" Kelser ask, his voice low.
"No," Jian shake his head. "But... we found this."
He hold up a small piece of cloth. It was grey, rough fabric. Not from the city. Not from the tribe either.
"This is from the refugee camp," Jian say quiet. "Sector 4. The new arrivals from the south."
Kelser eyes narrow. Sector 4. That where the biggest group of new people live. Hundreds of them. If the spy is there, finding him is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
"Mina?" Kelser ask.
"She checking the sector now," Jian say. "But Kelser... people is scared. Rumors spreading fast. Some saying the tribe did it. Some saying it's the old sect spies. People starting to point fingers."
"We stop the rumors," Kelser say firm. "Go to the square. Tell them the truth. Tell them we finding the culprit. Tell them if they touch anyone without proof, I will punish them myself."
"On it," Jian run out again.
Kelser turn back to Elara. She just finish treating a little boy. The boy stop coughing, the grey color fade a little bit from his cheeks. He asleep now.
Elara slump against the table, breathing hard. Sweat soak her hair.
"Twelve stable," she whisper. "For now. But the poison... it strong. Stronger than anything I ever see. It adapt. Every time I push, it change shape."
"It designed to kill cultivators," Kelser say. "It feed on Qi. That why normal people might survive, but anyone with power... they suffer more."
Elara look at him, eyes wide with fear. "Then... if it spread to the guards? To the council?"
"It won't," Kelser promise. "I seal the water lines to the upper district already. Only the lower sector affected. For now."
But he know. It only a matter of time. If the spy still have more poison, he can put it in the food next. Or the medicine.
"We need to find him," Kelser say. "Fast."
Two hours later, Mina come back. She don't walk in. She appear out of the shadow behind Kelser, making him jump a little.
"Found him," Mina say. Her voice cold. Colder than usual.
"Where?" Kelser spin around.
"Sector 4. Tent 12," Mina say. "A man named 'Lin'. Said he was a farmer. But his hands... no calluses. Soft hands. And he try to leave the city an hour ago. Tried to bribe the guard at the west gate."
"Did you catch him?"
"He ran," Mina say, a hint of anger in her voice. "He good. Very good. He use a smoke talisman and vanish into the crowd. But I track his footprints. He go back to his tent."
"Is he alone?"
"No," Mina shake her head. "That the problem. He got hostages. A family. Wife and two kids. He hiding in the back of the tent. Say if anyone come close, he kill them."
Kelser jaw tighten. Hostages. Classic move. Coward move.
"Take me there," Kelser say.
"You can't just rush in," Mina warn. "He got a dagger to the woman throat. One move, he slit it. And he look crazy. Eyes wide, sweating. He know he caught."
"I not gonna rush," Kelser say calm. "I gonna talk."
"You and your talking," Mina sigh, but she nod. "Follow me."
Sector 4 was dark. Most people asleep, but some was awake, whispering in the shadows. When they see Kelser and Mina walking through, they go quiet. Scared.
They reach Tent 12. It a small, ragged thing, flapping in the wind. Two guards stand outside, looking nervous, swords drawn but shaking.
"He inside," one guard whisper. "Screaming about demons. Say we all gonna die."
Kelser push the flap open and step inside.
The tent smell bad. Unwashed bodies and fear. In the corner, a man crouch. He hold a woman tight, a sharp knife press against her neck. The woman crying silent tears. Two kids huddle in the other corner, holding each other, eyes huge with terror.
The man look up. He look terrible. Face red, eyes bloodshot.
"Stay back!" he scream. "Don't come closer or I cut her!"
"I not coming closer," Kelser say calm. He stop near the entrance. He keep his hands visible. Empty. "My name is Kelser. I just want to talk."
"Liar!" the man shout. "You the demon! You bring the plague! You killing us all!"
"I trying to save us," Kelser say soft. "The poison in the water. Did you put it there?"
The man hesitate. He look at the knife, then at Kelser. "I... I had to! They said... they said if I don't do it, they kill my family! But my family already dead! The sect burn my village! Everyone dead!"
He start crying, hysterical now. "So I join them! The Silent Eye! They promise me revenge! Promise me money to escape! But it a lie! It always a lie!"
"So you kill children?" Kelser ask. His voice still calm, but there a edge to it now. A cold edge. "Old Man Hem? The little boy in the healer tent? They never hurt your village."
"They all the same!" the man scream. "All cultivators same! You take, you take, you take! I just want it to stop!"
"It won't stop like this," Kelser say. He take one small step forward. "Let the woman go. Let the kids go. And I promise, I listen to your story. I help you."
"No!" the man press the knife harder. A drop of blood appear on the woman neck. She whimper.
Kelser stop. He look at Mina. Mina give a tiny nod. She ready. She got a throwing knife hidden in her sleeve. But the angle bad. If she throw, she might hit the woman.
Kelser look back at the man. He see the despair. The madness. This man broken. Broken by the war, by the sects, by the pain.
"You right about one thing," Kelser say quietly. "The world is cruel. The sects is bad. They burn villages. They kill families."
The man blink, confused. "What?"
"I know," Kelser say. "My home was burned too. My family taken. I alone for long time."
He take another step. Slow. Careful.
"But killing innocent people... that not revenge. That just making more monsters. You become the thing you hate."
"I... I..." the man stutter. The knife shake in his hand.
"Let them go," Kelser say, his voice filled with a strange sadness. "Please. Don't let your pain kill more innocents. That what they want. They want you to be a monster so they can justify hunting us all."
The man look at the kids in the corner. Then at the woman crying in his arms. Something break in his eyes. The madness fade a little, replaced by shame.
"I... I can't fix it," he whisper. "Too late."
"Never too late to stop," Kelser say. He reach out a hand. Not to attack. Just to offer. "Give me the knife."
The man sob. A loud, ugly sound. He slowly lower the knife. The woman pull away, scrambling back, clutching her bleeding neck.
The man drop the knife on the floor. He cover his face with his hands and cry.
Mina move instant. She kick the knife away, then grab the man, twisting his arm behind his back. She tie him up fast with spirit ropes.
"Secure the family," Mina order the guards outside. "Get them medical help."
The guards rush in, helping the shaking woman and the terrified kids out of the tent.
Now, just Kelser, Mina, and the prisoner.
The man sit on the floor, defeated. "Kill me," he mutter. "Just do it."
Kelser look down at him. He feel angry. So angry. This man almost killed dozens. Maybe hundreds if it spread. But he also see a victim. A pawn used by Tian.
"I not gonna kill you," Kelser say.
The man look up, surprised. "Why?"
"Because you gonna tell me everything," Kelser say cold. "Who gave you the poison? Where is the rest? How many others like you is in my city?"
The man shake his head. "I don't know! I swear! They just give me a vial and say put it in the water. They say... Phase Two is coming. Something bigger."
"Bigger?" Kelser frown. "What that mean?"
"I don't know!" the man cry. "But they laugh. They say... 'let the ice king try to freeze a plague'."
Kelser feel a chill go down his spine. Plague? Is this just the start?
"Mina," Kelser say, turning away. "Lock him up. Deep cell. No visitors. And double the guard on the food stores. Now."
"What about him?" Mina point to the prisoner.
"He live," Kelser say. "For now. He useful."
Kelser step out of the tent. The night air feel cold on his face. The moon high above, bright and indifferent.
He look at the city. Sleeping. Peaceful. Unaware how close they was to death tonight.
"Phase Two," he whisper to himself.
If the poison was just phase one... what is phase two?
And how many more rats is hiding in the walls, waiting to bite?
Kelser clench his fists again. He tired. So tired. But he can't rest. Not yet.
"Not while I still breathing," he say to the empty street.
He start walking back to the healer tent. Elara need help. The people need protection.
And Kelser? He need to be stronger. Stronger than the poison. Stronger than the fear. Stronger than the shadows.
Because the storm ain't over. It just getting started.